Ascention Pt III
by Neemers
Summary: Since it looks like WB might not be picking up and finishing the Ascention story arc, I will.
1. The battle begins

Jean continued her psionic battle with the Professor, but she could feel herself slipping farther and farther behind. Cerebro and adrenaline where bringing her close to Xavier's range, but their powers were intrinsically different. Xavier's were much more focused, aiming straight at whatever he wished like a spear, while Jean's flowed and ebbed. Right now she had them as a gale blowing at Xavier, but she knew she couldn't last.  
  
Jean dug within herself, forcing every iota of her power forward. She didn't know if she'd even survive this gambit, but at least she'd buy her friends, her second family, a chance. She'd give the Professor's dream a chance at succeeding, even if she had to destroy what was left of him in the process. She'd do all she could. She had to.  
  
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In China, all the mutants stayed hidden below Bobby's ice shield, unsure of what they could do. Berzerker was raging to the heavens, barely controlling the energy that flowed about him enough to keep it from flying off and hitting his own teammates. Beast peered around the edge of the shield, trying to figure out what to do, muttering possibilities to himself before dismissing them as impossible.  
  
Evan looked around his compatriots. He was a Morlock now, but the longer he remained here the more he remembered why he had believed in the Professor's dream. When the other Morlocks had heard what was going on, they'd rejoiced, believing that they'd be able to go out in the sun again. Callisto had stayed silent, and he believed she realized what was more likely to result from the whole situation. She'd made no attempt to stop him from leaving to help the effort against Apocalypse, and he was somewhat surprised that she wasn't here to help with the effort.  
  
He looked at Bobby and was surprised when he noticed that not all of the young mutant's attention was focused on the ice shield. He looked scared, but of something other than Storm and the whole situation. Evan had seen that look before in some of the gentler Morlocks and realized what was going on. Bobby had an idea to get out of this mess that was so heinous that he wouldn't mention it.  
  
"What do you have?" Evan asked.  
  
Bobby shot his head up, startled. He looked like a deer caught in headlights for a moment before he dropped his head again and answered, "Nothing."  
  
"If you'd have nothing, you wouldn't understand the question well enough to answer nothing. I know we have to fight someone you love. She's my aunt, and I know her better than anyone. She'd rather die than live like this." Evan tipped Bobby's head up and did his best impression of a ticked-off Callisto as he growled, "Now what do you have?!"  
  
Bobby seemed to wilt. He cast a sideways glance at Evan, then lowered his head as he replied, "My ability to create the ice, lower the temperatures, everything, is connected to my ability to manipulate water molecules, to slow them down." Bobby looked up at Storm and continued, "Humans are mostly made out of water."  
  
Evan's heart stopped within his chest as he realized what Bobby meant, but he'd been with the Morlocks long enough to know what he had to do. With a look that brooked no argument and a great deal of pain if disobeyed, Evan said, "Do it."  
  
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Within the Sphinx, Nightcrawler and Wolverine advanced. Both knew that they probably wouldn't see Mystique coming, but they still searched through every shifting shadow for her. Logan took the point, claws at ready, while Kurt clung to the ceiling behind him. After several heartstopping moments, Kurt noticed something. According to his night vision, part of the wall was moving, though he saw nothing with his eyes. He carefully let his eyes continue to slide around the room, searching. He didn't need to look at something for his night vision to see it, and he was too far away to make his move.  
  
Kurt didn't know what Mystique would do now that she was under Apocalypse's control, but he suspected she would still attack Logan first. He changed his winding path across the ceiling slightly so he'd be in a better position to attack if she lunged for Logan. He just hoped he was right. Even with his night sense, he only saw an occasional, odd, flicker, and wasn't certain that he was right in his guess to where she was. For all he knew, he could be tracking some part of the Sphinx's machinery, but he couldn't give up hope.  
  
Logan continued to pace and whirl about, slowly making his way deeper within the Sphinx. Mystique made her move, leaping for him, but Kurt's many training sessions with Logan had paid off. He managed to reach her before she hit Logan. Now was the time to unleash the little surprise that Forge had cooked up for him, the one he'd sworn he'd never use but Logan had snuck onto the plane anyway.  
  
Kurt grabbed her and teleported, Forge's device once again slowing the teleport, but this time he was only in the fire-land for about half a second, just long enough to do what he needed to do and get out. Kurt had dragged Mystique though the portal with him, then pushed her away, trying to remain calm through the veil of tears covering his vision. He didn't know whether to be overjoyed or horrified when she split into a cloud of bats that all tried to cling to him as he returned. About a third of them succeeded and she'd slashed him open and taken him out of the fight before he even hit the ground on his return teleport. Maybe, just maybe, he'd bought Logan the edge he needed. Kurt smiled wearily, glad that his mother was alive and they still had the chance to save her along with the rest of the planet, as he faded into unconsciousness, held gently on the red carpet of his own spilt blood.  
  
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Commercial break number one. Opinions are welcomed. 


	2. Family

In Mexico it took a moment for Wanda to realize that Pietro had pulled her out of the way of the falling Sentinel wreckage. She turned and saw the rest of the Brotherhood. She had reinforcements, but she didn't think they could win. All they could do was delay and hope that someone, somewhere succeeded where they failed. Failure may be the one constant in the Brotherhood but it was ok because no matter how bad things got they were in it together.  
  
She'd been the power player here, but she wasn't making the slightest difference. Most of the team was grounded and thus useless against what was coming. Sunspot could get to Magneto and was whaling on him, but from where she stood she saw that he was a minor annoyance at best. For a moment she idly wondered just what the Brazilian boy was screaming at Magneto and whether the thing that had been her father could even understand him anyway. She kind of hoped he couldn't; that way, at least he would miss out on what had happened to him if this did end up being the end of everything.  
  
Angel had quickly figured out that merely flying in and trying to hit Magneto wouldn't work, so he'd flown down to pick up Alex. Angel flew them out of the way of Magneto's offensive while Alex attacked. Of course, with the haphazard attack, many of the shots were going wild, luckily not so wild that they hit their own teammates. From the looks of things on the ground, part of the problem was that they could never work together. Havok was trying to attack at the same time Angel ducked and wove to keep ahead of Magneto. She hoped that they didn't have an aerial battle between the two stressed mutants in a minute.  
  
It only took moments for Wanda to realize that, grounded as they were, the Brotherhood would be good for nothing but picking up and guarding fallen teammates, and from the look on their faces, Wanda realized that they'd come to the same conclusion. Of course, that didn't make them back off. The Brotherhood might fail its fights, but it would never back down or retreat if there was another option. She suspected she'd die, but at least she'd die with her real family. She wasn't alone anymore, and that made all the difference in the world.  
  
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Back in China, Bobby had extended his powers directly to Storm. To do this, he'd had to neglect the ice shield and for a moment Evan had thought it and Bobby would fall, but then Ray proved he hadn't forgotten the lessons he'd learned from the Morlocks: do what you have to do to protect the group, even if you might get yourself killed in the process. Ray leaped in front of the shield, taking the lightning bolts as they came and drawing them to his own electrical power, away from the group. Evan could smell burning flesh, but Ray just gritted his teeth and held his position. He had a family that wouldn't try to fry him the first minute he goofed up and he obviously wouldn't let go of it without a fight. When smoke started coming off Ray, Evan started wondering if this was Ray's last stand, ever.  
  
In a moment what was left of Storm saw what was happening and started sending hail instead. Evan saw it coming and leaped in front of Ray, strengthening and extending his armor to protect the other boy. He might not be at the mansion anymore, but he'd never stop protecting his teammates. He grunted as the ice stuck him. He felt bones within him shatter from the force of the hail, but he wouldn't move. This was his family, and he would not leave them. He extended his armor further and dug several spikes into the ground to anchor him in place. When he saw the beating the ice shield was taking, he knew what else he had to do. He started shooting spikes, creating a wall of spikes in front of the ice and watched as the hail got stuck in the barrier, making it even stronger.  
  
Just when Evan believed it wasn't working, he felt the hail start to slacken. Finally, it entirely stopped, and the clouds looked as if they were considering clearing off. Storm began to fall, but they were too late. Behind her, the pyramid flew up into the air. They were too late. Whatever was going down was happening in spite of them.  
  
Evan saw the pyramid and realized what it meant, but at that moment he didn't care. A quick glance behind him showed that though Ray had been knocked off his feet, he was still alive and breathing. Evan turned back to where the pyramid had stood and started running toward where Ororo had fallen. The broken bones within his legs were improperly splinted with his spikes, but he didn't care. He had to go see his Auntie O. She had to be ok. She was all that was left of his innocence. If she was dead, he had nothing.  
  
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In Mexico, the flyers had finally figured out that what they were doing wasn't helping and taken a new track. They flew down to those on the ground and together they outlined a new plan. Carefully at first, Havok shot his power at Sunspot. His powers were from the Sun and Sunspot was powered by sunlight, so they tried using Havok to charge him up further. Once they figured out that the charge-up plan would work and not fry Sunspot, Havok poured all the power he had into the Brazilian. He couldn't fly up to Magneto and Warren would be needed elsewhere. Once Havok was done, Sunspot flew up after Magneto. He'd been powered up to the point where he could serve as a good distraction even if he couldn't actually take Magneto out, and that was all he needed to be.  
  
After a few quick instructions, Wanda allowed Angel to carry her up to do war with her father. Sunspot's powers allowed Angel to get in close enough to throw her at Magneto and get out. Wanda latched onto him and released her chaos powers on him, hoping that this would shock Apocalypse's control loose. Somehow, Apocalypse's control of him and her genetic link to him let her get a look at him. An ancient, angry power looked back at her through the link that was between her and her father. She still unleashed all her chaos power and was terrified to find that the link had increased her powers. The trees started dancing, Fred started floating, and part of the top of the pyramid transformed itself into bubbles before its programming immunized it from her attack. Magneto wasn't so lucky. He managed to throw her off eventually, but she could sense that the battle had taken too much out of him for him to be able to do anything but run.  
  
As she fell, Angel caught her. Before they'd even touched down on the ground, Pietro was there berating Angel at superspeed for putting her in such danger. It was probably a good thing that he was talking so fast that none could understand a single word. As he continued yelling, a lingering presence of what she'd seen of Apocalypse removed Mastermind's influence and let her know what her real life had been like. As she stared at the furious face of her worried brother, she realized that he really hadn't been able to stop their father and it really wasn't his fault. She also realized that he'd lied to her about her past all those months, and didn't know what to do with him.  
  
In a few minutes she saw something else. The pyramid started floating up, and they'd done nothing to stop it. Her chaos powers had wounded Angel so badly that it was a miracle he'd manage to catch her and Sunspot lay in a puddle on the ground after catching a particularly nasty blow from Magneto. They were grounded. They were useless for whatever came next.  
  
She drew closer to her team, even more scared than she had been a few minutes ago. She suspected they'd be living through something worse than death soon, but that wasn't what scared her. She suspected that when this was all over, whoever was in charge of this whole mess would force them apart. She could face losing her home, her friends, and her life, but she couldn't bear the thought of losing her family.  
  
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Within the Sphinx, Logan finally managed to get through Mystique, continuing on inside to stop the madman responsible for the whole mess. Just as they reached the inner doors, something shifted and it began to lift off the ground, up into the sky. Logan leaped for the doors, trying to catch them with his claws, but he couldn't get a grip. He'd done it all. He'd gotten in, taken out Mystique, found what he was looking for, but he was still too late. He could do nothing now. The man who had been called a devil, the unstoppable, and worse had only one recourse; as his legs ceased to support him, he silently cried. He had finally found those who would take him as a friend and make him part of their family, and he had failed them. The mighty Wolverine hadn't been able to even slow this whole mess down.  
  
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In Egypt, the long line of Jamies was interrupted as a SHIELD helicopter landed and asked for the original. One of the Jamies broke out of the line and went with him as the others continued loading up on boom-balls. Several of the Jamies interrupted their line to stare at the Jamie who had left a the helicopter floated off, but all of them got back to business after one of the watching Jamies tripped over his own feet while walking and set off a boom-ball in his own face. Tabby looked at what remained and hoped that it wasn't an omen of things to come.  
  
Up in the sky, something was happening to Jean. Her psychic image was twisting into something different. It seemed to be catching on fire, and the Cerebro unit was glowing. As those below watched, Jean seemed to catch on fire as well, then swell up to fill her image. They could feel a part of her within themselves as well, but it seemed more like she had spread herself so far that they couldn't not sense her than that she was actually trying to contact them. It was a great bird, a great fiery bird, (1) and it was finally starting to do more than hold Xavier back. It was starting to win.  
  
Cheers erupted from below, but little by little, they died off. After nearly fifteen minutes of watching the battle, those below realized that the first thrust had only been temporary. They were evenly matched, and the only thing that had changed was that those below finally had a chance to attack the pyramid. They did everything they could, but they couldn't make the slightest dent. It was all for nothing.  
  
The pyramid itself lifted off, yet neither Xavier nor Jean seemed to notice. It looked like the world they knew would end with two of the greatest heroes they'd known, two people who had been like father and daughter, locked in mortal combat.  
  
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Commercial break two. The final, stunning conclusion to the episode will be up soon.  
  
(1) You know everything you know about the comic Phoenix? Forget it. This isn't it. 


	3. Crescendo

High up in the atmosphere, Fury stood beside Rogue while they started putting their contingency plan into action. Now that Jamie was here, they could do everything they needed to. Already, Callisto stood in the back while Leech clung to her leg. The boy who'd seemed so happy and carefree living with his mother was now watching every shadow, terrified, and something about the way he looked at Callisto told Rogue that he didn't fully trust her either.  
  
Rogue saw a masked lady dressed all in black step out of the shadows and knew it was time. All the woman had done since she'd got there was glare at anyone who got near and try to start arguments with anyone foolish enough to speak to her. Rogue had kept her distance. They didn't have to get along for what they had to do. Rogue pulled off her gloves and drained the lady in black, who she learned was called Miss Marvel, the Jamie, then Leech. It was time for the final gambit.  
  
Rogue started using Jamie's power to replicate herself. The first dupes flew off while she continued to create more of herself. As more and more dupes flew off, Rogue started to feel stretched and thin somehow, (1) but that wouldn't stop her from doing what she needed to do. She was the final gambit, and she would not let her family down. They'd taken her in even though she'd been their enemy and done all they could to make her part of the family. They'd saved her from Mystique. Now she'd save them in turn.  
  
As they flew, there was a shimmer in the web the pyramids were creating where her dupes exerted Leech's power over the web while they continued to fan out. Miss Marvel's flight and near invulnerability made her the perfect choice to get Rogue where she needed to go. Something had felt wrong about the energy transfer, but Rogue didn't allow herself to dwell on it. She had work to do. As more and more Rogues fanned out, the web seemed to shimmer and nearly buckle in places, especially over Mexico, but it wasn't going down. It wasn't enough. Rogue continued to duplicate and felt the stretched, thin feeling grow greater. She wouldn't let that stop her, though. She'd take this web down, or she'd die trying. The way things looked now, it would probably be the latter. ******************************************************  
  
Below in the psychic battle between Xavier and Jean, Jean had finally managed to down Xavier. She saw in a moment that the pyramid was gone and flew up after it. She wasn't done yet. In moments she saw the Rogue's and saw what they were doing. Somehow whatever Rogue was doing wasn't affecting her. She spread her essence and started pulling on the pyramid bits from below, trying to pull them out of formation. When it didn't work, she redoubled her efforts. She felt something burning her from the inside, but she didn't stop. She had to protect her family, her world. Slowly, the pyramids broke formation, and if Jean had been within her own body she would have smiled. Everything was breaking apart.  
  
She felt her essence contracting, and within moments she could feel her own body again. The world seemed to be dwindling down to a single prick-point of light while she slowly fell. She was done. It was done, and the world would live. The final pinprick of light was fading, but she didn't care. Her family was safe.  
  
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Rogue saw Jean falling, and one of her dupes swooped down to catch Jean while the others continued working the dead web to make sure it stayed dead. She didn't know where Jean had come from, but the helicopter was close. If Jean's color was any indication, she needed help now. Once, Jean had been the little Miss Perfect girl that Rogue had so despised. Now, she'd become Rogue's naive, much-loved sister, not that she'd ever let Jean know that. The Professor had taught her to be very adept with her shields.  
  
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Slowly, the world over, everyone realized it was over. In cities all over the world, people commented on the sudden lights in the sky and wondered what they could be. Many of the mutants below danced as they realized they'd won, while others picked up their fallen friends. Logan did everything he could to save Kurt while Wanda embraced her brother. Evan ran up to his aunt in time to see the blue fade from her face as she started breathing again, battered but in full possession of her own mind again. Every mutant with energy powers was shooting them off in an impromptu firework display. The world had been won, and this was the time for celebration.  
  
One of the most precious scenes came with Kitty. When Wanda went in search of her, she found the valley girl walking away from the spot where the pyramid had stood, carrying a large, lilac egg. Kitty looked up and told her, "It was inside the pyramid. I found it while I phased inside to break things. I think I did some damage. I think it's still alive. I couldn't just leave it." Wanda smiled and sat down with Kitty as they gazed at the new life that might come from this incident.  
  
SHIELD was kind enough to send air transport to take the mutant's home, where the party continued. Brotherhood and X-men feasted as one in the mansion, old differences forgotten for the moment. Tabby cranked up the music and Kitty managed to get Fred to get up and dance with her. The world was free.  
  
Half the mutants were too banged up to move around much, but they were too happy to care. Half the Institute teased Ray about his new, beet-red look from his encounter with Storm, but he didn't care. His time with the Morlocks had taught him to be proud of injuries earned in the line of duty.  
  
Evan and Pietro were so caught up in the moment that they hugged each other before realizing exactly who they were holding onto, letting go, and trying to pretend it had never happened. Unfortunately for them, Tabby had seen and spent most of the evening hounding them about it. She finally quit when they joined forced to get her to knock it off. Pietro caught and got rid of her boom-balls while Evan tacked her to the wall. For a few moments as they laughed together, it was like old times. They went back to the time before the X-men and the Brotherhood, before their mutations. They went back to the time when they'd been best friends and anyone who messed with one of them better be prepared to take on both of them.  
  
Unfortunately, not all was fun and games. As the first euphoria faded, reality set in. Soon after his encounter with Tabby, the smile on Evan's face faded and he wandered off to a quieter part of the mansion. Pietro quietly walked - yes, walked - after him. Somehow, after having the entire world threatened and delivered that day, their childhood rivalries didn't seem to matter anymore. As they walked, Pietro realized that there was something different about Evan other than the new armor. It took him a few minutes to get, but the conclusion was inescapable. Evan wasn't a boy anymore. Somehow, in the time between when he'd left and now, he'd become a man.  
  
The continued into the bowels of the Institute and Pietro was mildly surprised when Evan didn't tell him to leave and Summers didn't show up to try to force the issue. They stepped out into a metallic hall and Pietro started feeling his apprehension growing. Soon, they came to a door where he heard the hisses and beeps of some kind of machinery inside. Pietro peered inside to see that it was an infirmary and all too many of the beds were occupied. He saw Ororo, Xavier, Kurt, and Jean all lain out on the beds. Mr., McCoy was down here too, asleep where he'd obviously sat down to watch his patients.  
  
Evan headed directly for his Auntie O, where he took the seat next to her, intent on staying there. Pietro grabbed a chair and went over to sit beside Evan. He'd be there for the man who had once been his friend. Pietro was somewhat surprised when Evan eventually got up to return to the Morlocks, but he wasn't shocked.  
  
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None had found Magneto, but that didn't mean he was gone for good. Everyone silently waited for him to show up and try to take over the world again. This time, though, he'd have a lot less help. The Brotherhood had found a new path that didn't involve him and would probably fight against him if the need arose. The Brotherhood returned to the boarding house, with a generous allotment of money from SHIELD for their help. Some of them were talking about making it more than a one-time deal.  
  
Kitty kept the egg with her, and half the Institute watched her care for it. Maybe, with a little luck, there's be some kind of young, innocent being running around the Institute soon. Kitty cared for it so carefully that soon some of the bigger jokers were calling her 'the little mother,' but she didn't seem to care. She just ignored them and redoubled her efforts to make sure the whatever-it was had its chance to hatch and live.  
  
Most people started losing interest with the egg when Colossus showed up on their doorstop with a little girl holding his hand and asked to stay. With the Professor and Ororo out for the count, Hank and Logan were sharing control of the Institute. They took them to the library to talk and had allowed Colossus to stay, but none knew yet exactly what had happened within the library.  
  
All in all, life went on. Things changed, but they could help each other pick up the pieces. Wasn't that what the X-men were for? They were family, and family stuck together.  
  
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(1) ripped off from LoTR  
  
Roll credits. Opinions?  
  
To be continued in "Healing" 


End file.
